"You could use your life experiences, such as a catastrophic health diagnosis like breast cancer, to fuel your passion project."

It all started with Cashmere Nicole's challenging but successful battle with breast cancer. During this period of time, Cashmere began to focus more on her health, and became extremely conscious and research-driven about the food and the products that she purchased.

After using products with dubious quality, and seeing gaps between what she wanted out of the products she used, Cashmere pursued starting her own line of beauty products. Beauty Bakerie was founded on the promise of cooking up quality products with staying power.

On starting from scratch... "Don’t compare your brand to others, focus on what message you want to deliver to the world through your products and work hard on working and on growing."

On being a black woman entrepreneur... "It can be lonely outside of my own team." So make sure to choose your business partners wisely. "Choose a partner that can add value to your brand."

On seeking funding... "List all the ways they can do it without the funds, money can’t be the only motivation here. It is one of the most important decisions you’ll make so choose carefully and wisely. Hopefully your partners become family as ours have."

On how she grew her online beauty empire... "Never stop learning and growing and if it is hard, go for it. Your largest opportunities for growth lie just beyond your comfort zone."